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zip2play said:
With a UA of 8.7 that is duplicable even ONCE, you should be on allopurinol post haste?
Advice heeded. I will now be seeing my doc next Monday to talk about the high UA score and the possibility of Allopurinol.
I am very fond of those CrystalLight, Wyler?s packets? I?m permanently fighting weight gain and this gives me a cheap tasty everyday drink with close to ZERO calories.
I haven?t a clues on what the effect this concoction has on my urinary acidity.
Check on that ? I had switched to the individual packets of CrystalLight (with a 20oz. bottle of water) and had been drinking four or five of them per day for the last two months or so for precisely the same reasons: great taste, no calories. But after reading several places about the acidifying effects of aspartame, I am wondering now whether or not these are what precipitated my gout. Because my weight and diet haven?t changed for years with no gout symptoms in 8 years or so, these drinks were the only recent change ? which makes them a likely candidate, if it?s diet-related at all.
Even the Beverages PRAL table on the GoutPal website shows the aspartame drinks as having the highest metabolic acidity of all of them.
I haven?t read anything definitive, however, and would like to know for sure. Also, I cannot find anything about the acidifying effects of other artificial sweeteners besides aspartame, like sucralose.
My goal is to stay hydrated, but I can’t do that if the water is nasty. Spring or bottled water would be nice, but it’s expensive. I like Distilled, and keep that around anyway because of my espresso machine, but ideally just tap or filtered tap with something in it that’s gout-safe to make it palatable would be preferred.
GoutPal said:
I agree with zip2play ? unless there is something particularly unhealthy with tap water, it is far more important to keep hydrated when you have gout than it is to worry about the quality. If you prefer distilled, then that is the way to go.
I’m aware of that, and I’m staying very hydrated, using bottled spring water right now. Still no luck after going on six days now, although the first few days I was using those little packets of flavorings before I read in several places that the artificial sweeteners definitely were bad as far as acidifying – plain water since then (or with a squirt of lemon juice). I had been having 2-4 of those powder-mix drinks a day for a couple months, btw!
I’m a scuba diver and hydration is also very important to us when we dive – the rule is your flow should be “clear and copious” before the dive, and that’s the rule I’m also following here.
trev said:
Not wishing to play devils’ advocate- but over the years I’ve come across stories of Distilled water drinkers and though there’s nothing wrong in taking it, over a period of time minerals can be leached from the body on some reports.
If you have NO mineral deficiency related problems &/or take supplements this would probably reduce the tendency for this.
That is also what I have heard and read on the net, which is why I brought it up here. I haven’t seen any serious studies about this, just anecdotal information, and some of that from docs who are obviously hawking something, so not sure what to believe.
zip2play said:
Tap water in Jersey City is crystalline and delicious and a planned move to Manhattan would give me much of the same. (Consumer Union rated New York City water as better tasting and freer of contaminants than ANY bottled water.)
I think distilled water tastes too dull?it’s for irons and contact lenses.
LOL! Well, the water in almost all of Florida has a real sour smell and taste to it. Not that sulfur-egg smell like in some parts of Louisiana, just a sour taste, like it’s already stale when it comes out of the tap. I use one of those pitcher filters for most water (cooking, making tea, etc.), but when I want just a clean glass of plain water, I reach for the Distilled. The only way I can drink tap water is to add lemon/lime juice or some other flavoring first.
GoutPal said:
I also agree that controlling uric acid is the most important thing that you should focus on.
Also, this item about gout diagnosis is relevant. How was your gout diagnosed?
Well, the original gout diagnosis was in my 20’s, and like I said I have only had a few attacks since then, so most likely “secondary” gout. Consistently it only happens when I get quite overweight, which I am now (+50 lbs.), so if I can lose the weight and keep it down I should be able to get free of this, but since I’m ageing that’s more difficult, and I should probably start paying more attention to this anyway and consider gout when planning my diet.
My most recent UA level was 8.7 ug/dL about a month ago. I don’t recall testing for it anytime prior to that – this just hasn’t been much of an issue before.
Thanks all!
— Fritz
